Meles
Bionic Poster
Peak RBA on the ropes for sure; the winner and the other finalist get a private jet to the US Open courtesy of the tournament. Playing for it all next set.
The Minor Major: ATP 250 Winston-Salem Open at Wake Forest University - General Discussion Thread
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VamosBamos987
Hall of Fame
RBA now overtakes Nishikori in the race to mugdom. Berdych is in the lead.
Meles
Bionic Poster
LOL. Gilbert reminiscing about blowing a match against Krickstein where he was up 6-1, 5-2, 0-40 3 MP on break. Gilbert blew that and then blew 40-0 in the next game. 8 MPs went away in total and Gilbert destroyed the net after two sets causing a 15 minute delay.#LosingUgly Peak RBA not looking so bad and now 15-40 on Troicki serve.
helterskelter
G.O.A.T.
RBA should win the final, barring another attack of nerves. Millman is a textbook example of a journeyman, while Carreno Busta may be a bit better, but mostly on clay.
Mainad
Bionic Poster
Disappointed for Millman. Was hoping he would have made the final.
Moose Malloy
G.O.A.T.
helterskelter
G.O.A.T.
Krickstein beat Edberg in three different Slams (83 US Open, 88 US Open, 95 Australian Open) and all of them went to 4-4 in the 5th. If Edberg had had Krickstein's toughs, or Krickstein had had Edberg's height, technique, and attacking intent, the hybrid would have been quite the player!
Meles
Bionic Poster
Busta is also pretty good on hard courts and a youngish player by today's standards. Perhaps he'll wrestle with RBA soon for 2nd Banana in Spanish tennis now that Ferrer is dropping.
Meles
Bionic Poster
I always kind of lumped Krickstein in with Arias in my mind as also rans, but he had two slam semis in his career. Its nice to here about his greater exploits. I've never really been a student of the game until the Big 4 came along and really not too serious until the last few years. TTW is a wonderful place.
Meles
Bionic Poster
Thiemination next for him at the US Open.
And then eventually perhaps Thiem vs Murray.
Busta and RBA probably get thrown on the same private jet to New York by the organizers. There probably have been some interesting jet rides for the finalists these last few years. Quite the perk and smart by the organizers as some of the players would be more likely to tank at the end of the tournament. LOL Gasquet wanting to be first on for the QFs in the heat of the day; probably caught an evening flight to NY.
helterskelter
G.O.A.T.
Arias also made a Slam semi - the 1983 US Open. In it, he played Lendl, who at that point had a history of choking. In John Feinstein's book Hard Courts, my favorite book about tennis, the author reports Arias telling him in an interview that he rang his father to tell him he'd made the semis. Arias senior said, "Don't even call me if you don't beat Lendl." Arias didn't beat Lendl and didn't call.
Bear in mind that Arias turned 19 a week or two before the 1983 US Open and had done very well just to make the semis, winning five-setters against both Joakim Nystrom and the Roland Garros champion Yannick Noah. He was undoubtedly tired. By contrast, Lendl was the world #2 and had been runner-up the previous year. Lendl won 6-2 7-6 6-1.
Both Krickstein and Arias were also rans in the sense that their game just wasn't good enough to beat the very best if they played at their very best. (The only one of Krickstein's wins over Edberg that occurred when he was close to his best was the one at the 1988 US Open. In 1983, he was just 17 and still competing in junior Slams - he won the junior Grand Slam that year. By 1995, he was well past his best, even though he only turned 29 in the month of the 1995 Australian Open. He started that year still ranked #7 but ended it #23).
helterskelter
G.O.A.T.
I remember PCB's long run in challengers back in 2013 or 2014. Probably 2013. Only in 2016 has he started to come good on the main tour, reaching three finals now, I think. But still yet to win one. I think RBA will win, but I want PCB to win.
Yeah, he turned 25 last month, so he still has plenty of time on his hands. Even RBA does too. Sure he's months past his 28th birthday. But he's only played 250 or so tour matches and so is relatively fresh. He didn't really do anything on tour prior to 2013 and not much prior to his 2014 breakout win against JMDP at the Australian Open.
helterskelter
G.O.A.T.
@Meles By the way, I once saw Krickstein play live at Wimbledon 1995. He was up against Kafelnikov, who was by no means a grass-court specialist. But it couldn't have been clearer that Kafelnikov was much more comfortable on the surface than Krickstein. He just hit through the ball so much more. It was in round 4 and Kafelnikov won 6-3 6-3 6-2. I can't remember which court it was on, though. It was on the site of the current court 18, but it might still have been court 14. Sometime around then, they renovated the grounds, and built the new courts 18 and 19, which involved taking away the stand on court 14 and converting it from a minor show court to a back court. I can't remember whether that was one of the last years of the old court 14 or one of the first years of the new court 18. I'm fairly sure that court 18 was in place by 1997, as I once sat on it during the middle Sunday when it was almost empty. I think that was in 1997, but I guess it might have been 2004. I doubt it was as late as that, though.
Kafelnikov was actually very good on fast indoor carpets, so I think his struggles on grass were the result of not adapting well to bad bounces rather than not being able to deal with pace.
Come to think of it, I was at Wimbledon twice in 1995, and have a vague memory that I saw either Kafelnikov or Krickstein playing a second round match as well as that 4th round. But at this point I just couldn't say for sure.
Kafelnikov was actually very good on fast indoor carpets, so I think his struggles on grass were the result of not adapting well to bad bounces rather than not being able to deal with pace.
Come to think of it, I was at Wimbledon twice in 1995, and have a vague memory that I saw either Kafelnikov or Krickstein playing a second round match as well as that 4th round. But at this point I just couldn't say for sure.
Meles
Bionic Poster
Nice. I saw both play, but when you don't follow the ups and downs of the tour and basically largely slam watch, you just don't have these insights.
You mention Kafelnikov in the post below and he's kind of a pet hobby of mine in that statistically the guy was not all that impressive, but he had a strong first serve game. Understanding Kafelnikov just seems important to understanding the game as he had good success. More Kafelnikov stories in our upcoming interactions please.
Meles
Bionic Poster
Commies have state that Busta has but on 10 pounds in the last year. He's realized he needs to be stronger to compete on tour. Busta is ideal tennis height at just over 6' 2" which also suprised me. Interesting match. Busta serving 3-4. Its PCB vs RBA.
Commies have state that Busta has but on 10 pounds in the last year. He's realized he needs to be stronger to compete on tour. Busta is ideal tennis height at just over 6' 2" which also suprised me. Interesting match. Busta serving 3-4. Its PCB vs RBA.
I can't stand Agut. Always spitting at his feet during change over. yuk!
Meles
Bionic Poster
RBA spits his way to the first set. Holds serve twice and killer first return winner for 8-6.
J
JRAJ1988
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